We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katie Marks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katie below.
Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is the ‘Distracted’ short film for Logan Lynn on Kill Rock Stars, a queer indie label that’s been around since the 90’s. Logan has also been a fixture in queer pop culture for a number of years. Being the longest project I had worked on was one thing (the film runs about 15 minutes), but the premise of it being queer love and loss was what made it personally notable. Being a part of any LGBTQ+ art that releases to the world is always meaningful in itself, really, but this film was exceptional in that it challenged my creativity in a lot of new ways. Logan was great to work with and I learned a wealth of knowledge through the experience. It took a bulk of my 2023 to work on, and I would say 2023 is my strongest year for growth as an animator and creative. It’s amazing the people you get to meet and the experiences you get to have in the world of creativity, and every animation I’ve gotten to release has been special to me.
Katie, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Katie Marks, and I am a stop-motion animator originally from Dayton, OH. I started using computers at a young age in a school computer lab, using the slideshow function from an old software program called KidPix. The slides could be timed to a fraction of a second, so I figured out manipulating different frames to make mouths move and different motions happen. I actually have the first episode on VHS. After a few pit stops in my career, I found myself working for a small record label. One of the artists, a filmmaker named Clyde Petersen, let me come out to Seattle to work on making puppets for a film of his. During the visit, he taught me how to use DragonFrame, a stop motion software that I now use regularly. The whole experience was pretty life changing actually, it made me realize this was something I had wanted to do for a long time. After that, I started making animations and music videos. I also recently completed a short film that I go more in depth on in this interview. Currently I am finishing the development my production studio, Ambiguously Lost Studios, with the first project slated for Spring 2024.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I actually owned a food truck for a considerable amount of time, then was diagnosed with a benign brain mass. After realizing the toll it took on the physical labor, I decided to do something different. This is when animating came in. Sometimes the worst life circumstances can bear the best changes moving forward.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I want to put art into the world that I am passionate about making. It has taken some time and some different trials to decide exactly what I wanted to be disciplined in, and now that I have, I want to make sure I put something into the world that conveys a story of warmth and meaning while not taking itself so seriously. Life is too short to take myself so seriously and I want my art to reflect that. There’s an animated series I’m working on I am very excited about that conveys this very concept. The release is slated for Spring 2024. It was originally set for Spring of this year, but I want it out when it’s ready.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.katieannmarks.gay
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/i_am_katie_marks
Image Credits
Katie Ann Marks, Logan Lynn, and Kill Rock Stars